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A key assumption in development literature, Adam Fforde argues, is that development is a predictable process with knowable solutions. As a result, the literature is characterized by a combination of great certainty and great differences of opinion. It is no surprise then, that students and practitioners confronting the mass of competing assertions about development truths become confused and frustrated. Coping with Facts offers guidance for the perplexed through a penetrating critique of development studies literature. Rather than presenting a general examination of modern development practice, Fforde develops coping strategies that help readers evaluate the contending solutions to problems of development. Fforde cements his analysis with detailed case studies of development projects in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam where he spent over 10 years. Those eager to chart a constructive career in development theory and practice as well as students looking for an introduction to this vast field will want this book as a navigational aid for their journey.
This book is based upon extensive and repeated fieldwork, close observation and familiarity with institutional detail. It traces Vietnam's early attempts to create in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) a basis for a military-industrial complex, and the ways in which these attempts failed, which explains the nature of state commercialism through the 1980s and into recent years. Since the 1990 breakout to a market economy, Vietnam has shown outstanding development success, with rapid GDP growth, macroeconomic stability, swift poverty reduction, maintenance of social spending and extensive globalisation. Her SOEs have played a major role, not only in showing that performance gains in 1989-91 could ...
Important parts of development practice, especially in key institutions such as the World Bank, are dominated by economists. In contrast, Development Studies is largely based upon multidisciplinary work in which anthropologists, human geographers, sociologists, and others play important roles. Hence, a tension has arisen between the claims made by Development Economics to be a scientific, measurable discipline prone to wide usage of mathematical modelling, and the more discursive, practice based approach favoured by Development Studies. The aim of this book is to show how the two disciplines have interacted, as well as how they differ. This is crucial in forming an understanding of developme...
This book debunks the foundations of contemporary government-led development policy. The author questions the predictability of success when using mainstream development doctrines and its underlying assumptions, approaching development from a sceptical standpoint, as opposed to the more common optimistic view. The book uses international development and aid as a case study of how rich countries define how change should happen. Further, it suggests alternative ways of thinking about and organizing social change.
This clear and accessible text explores Vietnam's successful transition from neo-Stalinist central planning to a market economy—\"Vietnamese style.\" After describing the north Vietnamese system prior to 1975 and its colonial and precolonial antecedents, the authors uncover the mechanisms of that changeover. They contend that the Vietnamese transition was largely bottom-up in character and that it evolved over a long enough period for the country's political economy to adjust. This explains in part the rapid shift to a high-growth, externally oriented development path in the early 1990s, despite the loss of Soviet aid and the lack of significant Western substitutes until 1992-1993. Based upon extensive incountry experience, a wealth of primary materials, and wide comparative knowledge of development issues, the book challenges many preconceived notions, both about Vietnam and about the general nature of transition processes.
'No summaries can do justice to the sheer inventiveness, wit, complexity, erudition, unexpectedness and originality' The Times Hundreds of years in the future, the world is an alarmingly different place. Life is lived according to The Rulebook and social hierarchy is determined by your perception of colour. Eddie Russett is an above average Red who dreams of moving up the ladder by marriage to Constance Oxblood. Until he is sent to the Outer Fringes where he meets Jane - a lowly Grey with an uncontrollable temper and a desire to see him killed. For Eddie, it's love at first sight. But his infatuation will lead him to discover that all is not as it seems in a world where everything that looks black and white is really shades of grey ... If George Orwell had tripped over a paint pot or Douglas Adams favoured colour swatches instead of towels, neither of them would have come up with anything as eccentrically brilliant as Shades of Grey. *** COMING SOON - continue the adventures of Eddie and Jane in the eagerly awaited RED SIDE STORY - pre-order now! ***
This book explores the way in which the state has become commercialised under reform as party and government officials have gone into business and considers the impact that this has had on politics within Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The book charts the way in which power has been decentralised to the lower levels of the party-state but argues that the central state retains significant power. These issues are explored through a variety of case studies including the implementation of different reform policies, struggles over political and business activity, and the prosecution of two major corruption cases. Particular emphasis is placed on piecing together the myriad of informal practices which dominate business and political life in Vietnam.
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A comparative study of the political economy of the transition from communism in East and Southeast Asian countries (China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), addressing the key theoretical questions generated from the debate between shock-therapists and gradualists. While accurately defining the pre-reform model, this book explores the causal variables that have contributed to reform efforts within Asia, examining the significance of the sequencing of political and economic transition and the interplay between politics and the economy in determining variations in transition outcomes. Comparing the 'real world' experiences of transition nations in communist Asia with Eastern Europe, prominent questions are brought to the fore; will market capitalism or market socialism prevail after the grand failure of communism? This book makes an important contribution to the political economy theory of comparative communist and post-communist studies and provides detailed analytical insights that will prove influential in future theoretical work.
Since 1990 public political criticism has evolved into a prominent feature of Vietnam's political landscape. So argues Benedict Kerkvliet in his analysis of Communist Party–ruled Vietnam. Speaking Out in Vietnam assesses the rise and diversity of these public displays of disagreement, showing that it has morphed from family whispers to large-scale use of electronic media. In discussing how such criticism has become widespread over the last three decades, Kerkvliet focuses on four clusters of critics: factory workers demanding better wages and living standards; villagers demonstrating and petitioning against corruption and land confiscations; citizens opposing China's encroachment into Vietnam and criticizing China-Vietnam relations; and dissidents objecting to the party-state regime and pressing for democratization. He finds that public political criticism ranges from lambasting corrupt authorities to condemning repression of bloggers to protesting about working conditions. Speaking Out in Vietnam shows that although we may think that the party-state represses public criticism, in fact Vietnamese authorities often tolerate and respond positively to such public and open protests.